The 6th chapter of F Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment is a cliffhanger, leaving us at the end w Raskolnikov standing at the doorway, with an axe concealed in the sleeve of his jacket, as the pawnbroker whom he intends to murder lifts the latch. It's not truly a cliffhanger of course in that we know the next action will be the killing - C&P is of course a crime novel in reverse, the narrative tension built upon the punishment not the crime and not the police investigation. A key element in this chapter is the conversation the R - in one of many coincidences that give this novel some of its oddity- overhears immediately after his first visit some months back to the pawnbroker: two young men in a tavern happen to be discussing, too loudly, the possibility of killing the pawnbroker; one argues that doing so could provide money to many who need it while do harm to one nasty woman w no need to live: the greatest good for the greatest number. The Everyman edition that I'm reading has a thoughtful intro that discusses this philosophy, in vogue esp in England at the time of composition (1866) and that D found to be morally abhorrent- the philosophical and ethics foundation of this novel is the refutation of the moral calculus through the experience, suffering, and redemption of one person.
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